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Louise had really been through some serious life trials – a history of disordered eating, multiple psychiatric hospitalizations, 5 psychotropic’s for 15 years, and an extremely challenging taper process. We had resolved any diagnostic trace of Grave’s Disease, moved her through a beautiful pregnancy, and homebirth, breastfeeding, and yet, it was hard for her to feel – truly feel – the magnitude of healing that had taken place. To embrace what it means to no longer be a patient – not an endocrine patient, not a psychiatric patient, not an obstetrical patient… to simply be herself.

Surrendering the status of patient

One would think that being released from the patient role would feel like getting out of jail. But what if when the jail cell is open, you don’t want to leave? In psychology, this is called learned helplessness: a kind of beating down of any sense of personal power that creates incapacity to change one’s circumstances.

This learned helplessness is what the conventional medical system can do to an unsuspecting consumer. It can give you a label – one that actually feels good to receive because it seemingly validates your felt experience of suffering and struggle – and then you become that label. I suffer from general anxiety disorder, I have ADD, ADHD, I’m bipolar, I am on the Asperger’s Spectrum, I am a diabetic, etc.

And you don’t know who you are without this label, without the routine of appointments and prescriptions, without the social currency of your health complaints, and without worrying about your wellbeing. Sometimes, this state of being just feels too familiar to imagine moving beyond… like an itchy wool sweater that you’ve gotten used to and would rather not brave the cold without.

What does it mean to no longer be sick?

What it means is that suffering has taken on personal meaning. Almost the moment that it does, it paradoxically ceases to be suffering. Symptoms stop being a problem and start being an opportunity to learn more about this wondrous vessel your consciousness inhabits… Your Body!

But is it really your body? Did you make it? As Michael Singer would say, “Go ahead – make an eyeball…I’m waiting!” Or as Alan Watts would say, “You don’t have to think about how to work your thyroid gland, it just happens.” And you are there simply to be with this happening. .. to support it and allow for it?

It is your body’s process; the depth, timing, and mystery of it is not for you to command.

And like a child having a tantrum, it’s only when you make a practice of really seeing them, hearing them, and honouring them that the tantrums stop and the harmonious dance of mother-child begins. Similarly, it’s only when you stop fighting, domineering, and dictating the conditional terms of acceptance to your body – when you finally stop and you make a truce – then the deep healing begins.

Is your inner control freak at the wheel?

Having been on both the patient and the clinician end, I now find that a lot of the testing, supplementation, and general high-level management of integrative and functional medicine can keep patients stuck in the fighting and commanding posture, lording over their body machine.

How about a new probiotic for the less-than-perfect poops, or more pau d’arco to kill the yeast, or perhaps extra l-theanine for the possibility that I might not fall immediately asleep tonight. Do your thoughts ever sound like that? Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with supplements or natural approaches – the point is that the intentionality and the mindset matter. Are you looking to fight a symptom or support the response that it represents?

Stopping this fight entails relinquishing the need to micromanage your body’s expressions, getting to a point where you say – wow, I hear you Body…I’m finally listening. I promise to honour you every day and to trust that you know exactly what you’re doing.

This receptive energetic posture is how you create the conditions for healing. This is how your Body shows you, in the present, that there is something that has yet to be resolved. And only when we listen with curiosity will we be intuitively led to exactly what that is – from a toxic exposure to a buried traumatic memory. No fancy testing required.

First things first – the reunion with the Body

Saying no and setting boundaries is hard. In a people-pleasing social fabric, we are very uncomfortable with the possibility that someone might not like us if we do. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that boundaries set us free.

That lines create the empty spaces that we release into. So, before letting go of the Body steering wheel, before understanding that it’s not really your Body to manage, and before bowing to it every day – you have to reunite with this Body. You have to learn what it is to care for your Body even when your mind is trying to tell you that you don’t have time, that it’s not necessary, and that self-care is a precious fad.

I believe in fierce grace.

And the fierce part comes first, in the form of commitment to a higher level of care – Body, mind and spirit – than most of us are comfortable with. Through this ritual – in the case of my patients and Vital Mind Reset participants, a month-long ritual – you send your body a very different signal… a signal that informs a truce. You say, I will prioritize caring for you – nourishing, cleansing, and generally honouring you. And this gesture – even if you don’t even feel it authentically from the start – incites a response.

The Body responds with the dissolution of symptoms and early indications that it is, in fact, listening, and that a conversation has begun. But there is a point at which you understand the cosmic hierarchy, and then you bow down to its wisdom and give your Body permission to do its thing, its way. And then your Body shows you where the journey is taking you. A clear Body feels intuitively what is right and what is wrong. And as long as the mind is receptive and not reactive, then there are no longer any mental decisions to make. It all becomes a happening.

The tyranny of perfect health and happiness

The goal cannot and should not be perfect health and happiness. Why not? Because these goals imply that the process of Body truce and honour is simply a means to an outcome that is ever receding into the future. But we are here, right now, having a real embodied experience of this lifetime. It is rich with strangeness and wonder, and if you are courageous enough, it will be peppered with mystical opportunities to grow and to look deeper into the hurt places that need attention, love, and care…and you won’t call them problem symptoms any longer. You’ll call them invitations to finally, truly be yourself.

Did you know that many reasons why people are sick or end up with inflammation and disease in the body is through unchecked build-up of toxins in the body? There are many different toxins that enter our bodies from different sources and disrupt and interfere with our internal endocrine system.

The endocrine system consists of a set of glands (thyroid, gonads, adrenal and pituitary) and the hormones they produce (thyroxine, estrogen, testosterone and adrenaline), which help guide the development, growth, reproduction, and behaviour of animals, including humans. Hormones are signalling molecules, which travel through the bloodstream and elicit responses in other parts of the body.

Household Products that contain plasticizers such as Bisphenol A found in plastic bottles. Endocrine disruptors may be found in many everyday products– including metal food cans, detergents, food, toys, and cosmetics.

Pharmaceuticals

Endocrine-disrupter compounds (EDC) are also found in pharmaceuticals. Protein Disulfide Isomerase (PDI) in the endoplasmic reticulum of all cells catalyses the rearrangement of disulfide bridges during folding of membrane and secreted proteins. As PDI is also known to bind various molecules including hormones such as estradiol and thyroxin, we considered the hypothesis that adverse effects of endocrine-disrupter compounds (EDC) could be mediated through their interaction with PDI leading to defects in membrane or secreted proteins.

The present data indicate that the tested EDCs could not only affect endocrine target cells through nuclear receptors as previously shown, but could also affect these and all other cells by positively or negatively affecting PDI activity. The substrate DiE-GSSG has been demonstrated to be a convenient substrate to measure PDI reductase activity in the presence of various potential EDCs. It will certainely be usefull for the screening of potential effect of all kinds of chemicals on PDI reductase activity. -Source: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0009507

Phytoestrogens

Another natural example of an endocrine disrupter is Phytoestrogens, which are naturally occurring substances in plants that have hormone-like activity. Examples of phytoestrogens are genistein and daidzein, which can be found insoy-derived products.

Emotional Toxins

Emotional toxicity from stressful situations can cause mental and physical impairment in the body, even witnessing a traumatic event on the television screen can cause emotional toxins in the body.

A huge number of chemicals have been identified as endocrine disruptors, among them several pesticides. Pesticides are used to kill unwanted organisms in crops, public areas, homes and gardens, and parasites in medicine. -Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3138025/

PBCs

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a broad group of chemicals that includes 209 aromatic chlorinated hydrocarbons used for products ranging from fluorescent light fixtures to coolant fluids inside parts of consumer electronics. Short-term exposure to large amounts of PCBs can cause liver damage; the effects of smaller concentrations can be more subtle, affecting the reproductive development of children of exposed mothers. -Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1480494/

The potential for human exposure to PCBs still exists, however, because they persist in air, soil, and water sediments for many years. Additionally, they are also found in older transformers, capacitors, fluorescent lighting fixtures, electrical devices, and appliances that are still in use.

DLCs are unintended by-products of combustion. Combustion sources can be of anthropogenic (e.g., waste incineration) or natural origin (e.g., forest fires). Industrial (e.g., paper and chemical manufacturing) and biological processes also contribute to DLC production, although in smaller quantities.

Nutritional supplementation is a powerful and effective way to detox your system but before you rush out and buy different detox vitamins, minerals and herbs, you need to know the different grades of nutritional supplements available in the marketplace: Pharmaceutical Grade, Medical Grade, Cosmetic or Nutritional Grade.

Pharmaceutical Grade is the highest quality grade of vitamins and supplements meaning the purity; dissolution and absorption meet the highest regulatory standard verified by an independent party. Pharmaceutical grade vitamins and nutrients may be available without a prescription, but they are typically sold by licensed health care professionals.

Medical Grade vitamins and nutrients are also high-grade supplements but may not meet all the standards of pharmaceutical grade supplements. Prenatal vitamins normally fall into this category.

Cosmetic or Nutritional Grade supplements are typically sold in health food stores, chemists and, readily available on supermarket shelves. These supplements may not always be tested for absorption, dissolution or purity. Additionally, these supplements do not always have the same concentration of active ingredients as what is listed on the label.

You may or may not be aware that 98% of supplements readily available are of cosmetic grade… not even close to pharmaceutical grade.

One line of powerful and very effective nutritional supplements is the Le-vel brand THRIVE line here https://brainspahealth.le-vel.com The reason people are seeing amazing results when using THRIVE nutritional supplements, and why they cost a little more, is because they are pharmaceutical-grade, and only the highest quality nutritional ingredients are sourced.

Fatigue: If you are getting plenty of regular sleep but still wake up tired it is possible that your thyroid hormone level may be low. If your mind is constantly active and you cannot seem to sleep at night then you may have an over-active thyroid (hyperthyroidism). Either way, your thyroid hormones may well be out of balance.

Anxiety & Panic Episodes: If you suffer from mood swings, anxiety, panic episodes or depression, this can also be an indication of a thyroid disorder (hyperthyroidism).

Brain Fog: If you get days where you feel as though you’re walking around in a fog all day, your thyroid may be out of balance.

How’s Your Poop? Often people with an under active thyroid (hypothyroidism) complain of constipation, and those with an over active thyroid (hyperthyroidism) have the opposite; diarrhoea or more frequent sloppy bowel movements.

Weight Management Issues: If you’re eating habits have not changed, you exercise regularly but still cannot seem to remove stubborn excess weight, the cause may be an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism).

3 Fatty Acids in Coconut Oil that Your Thyroid Craves

The unique medium-chain fatty acid profile of coconut oil is what makes it stand apart from all other oils and gives it the ability to help the body self-regulate (something it is quite able to do).

These fatty acids, including lauric acid (found in a mother’s breast milk), are small enough that they can be gobbled up by the mitochondria in the cells. Because of this, they provide immediate energy for the body.

Lauric acid is converted to monolaurin, which is a potent antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal substance. Because monolaurin is a monoglyceride, it can destroy lipid-coated viruses including measles, influenza, HIV, herpes and a number of pathogenic bacteria.

Another fatty acid that coconut oil contains is caprylic acid, also found in breast milk. Also known as octanoic acid, this saturated fatty acid has a number of health promoting properties and the innate ability to treat yeast-like fungus in the intestines.

Capric acid is present in very small amounts in goat’s milk and cow’s milk, but is abundant in tropical oils, including coconut oil.

It is a medium-chain fatty acid that has potent antimicrobial and antiviral properties. In the body, capric acid is converted to monocaprin, a form that can readily fight viruses, bacteria, and the yeast Candida albicans.

Because of this unique combination of fatty acids, coconut oil suppresses inflammation and repairs tissue while inhibiting microorganisms that cause the inflammation in the first place.

Polyunsaturated oils are the real enemy and many people still prefer to cook with expeller-pressed or solvent-extracted oils. If you cook with vegetable oil, it is time to stop. These oils are only increasing inflammation in your body. If you have reason to believe that your thyroid may be working only half time for you, make the switch today to organic cold-pressed coconut oil.

Not all coconut oil is created equal… and some are better than others. As was the case when coconut oil was used heavily in the food processing industry years ago, there is still a lot of refined coconut oil in circulation. Obviously, the more processed the oil, the less health benefits it possesses. –Source: http://pages.thealternativedaily.com/alerts-click-coconut-thyroid/

Other Natural Ways to Improve Thyroid Function

In addition to including coconut oil in your diet, try these other natural ways to balance your thyroid function.

Switch from iodized table salt to sea salt, as it has more minerals that help support better thyroid functioning.

Chronic stress is said to be one of the main triggers of hypothyroidism so practicing stress reduction techniques such as meditation and deep-breathing can help as can regular de-stress hypnotherapy sessions.

Follow a gluten-free diet has also been shown to improve thyroid function. Research has found a link between wheat allergies and thyroid disease.

Avoid chemicals like triclosan, which is commonly found in items like antibacterial soap, deodorant, lotions, and even in cutting boards.

.. this is especially important to correct thyroid function. Walking briskly for 30 minutes a day is a good place to start.

Supplement with probiotics, vitamins and minerals. Many natural herbs can also assist in weight management and bringing the body back into balance.

If supplementation is a constant battle for you, you may want to try the 8-week Thrive experience: the world’s only wearable nutrition. The products in the 8-week program include probiotics, vitamins, minerals and herb supplements all in the one easy-to-follow program. Ideal for weight management and increased energy… and helping you bring your body back into balance… Check it out by Clicking Here Before long, you will not only feel better, but you may be surprised at how well your pants fit!